January 29, 2012
Homily: National Catholic Singles Conference
Most Rev. James D. Conley, S.T.L., apostolic administrator of Denver, delivered the following homily during the National Catholic Singles Conference on the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 29, 2012, at the Westin Hotel in Westminster, Colorado.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I am here to conclude your conference, but still, I wish to welcome you to the Archdiocese of Denver. I pray your time here has been a grace to you; that you have built friendships, gained insight, and, most especially, I pray and hope that you have been transformed by the presence of Jesus Christ in your midst.
I want to thank Anastasia Northrop and Darin Ries for their kind invitation to celebrate this closing Mass for the National Catholic Singles Conference, returning to its birthplace, I understand, here in Denver.
So, in the days you’ve been here, you’ve had opportunity to pray, to socialize, to hear excellent speakers, and, I hope, to enjoy the beauty of Colorado!
I want to thank all the many people who were involved in planning this conference and, in a particular way, for making it a priority to provide for daily Mass, the opportunity for confession and Eucharistic adoration throughout the entire weekend. This tells me that not only is this a serious organization, but it tells me that you have a strong sense of Catholic identity and a love for Christ and his Church.
But now we are here, on this Sunday morning, to listen to the Word of God, to reflect on what the Lord wants to reveal to us in the liturgy, and to celebrate together the Holy Eucharist. What could be a more fitting conclusion to your Conference than receiving our Eucharistic Lord, and then going back out into the world, strengthened and transformed by the Bread of Life - to be salt and light in the world.
You’re probably expecting me to begin with the second reading, Paul’s reflection to the Corinthians on marriage and the single life – a rather providential reading didn’t you think? I’ll get there, but I’d like to begin with the Old Testament reading from the Book of Deuteronomy.
To give a little context for this reading, Moses is preparing the Israelites to enter into the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land—the land they’d been journeying through the desert for forty years to finally inhabit. But Moses is warning the people that the land God has prepared for them; is full of “soothsayers and sorcerers” -- false prophets who claim to speak the truth. The Canaanites have been led astray by these false prophets, and practice unmentionable abominations.
So God is sending his people across the Jordan into a land of confusion; into a land of moral decay, uncertainty, and misleading falsehoods.
That sounds to me a lot like 21st century America – amen?
God led his people to a place filled with moral depravity. But he didn’t leave them there alone, without a guide. Instead, and this is the place we come to in today’s reading, God promises Israel a new prophet—someone to lead them in truth, even in the midst of the moral confusion and cultural depravity of the people.
Moses tells the Israelites: “A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you from among your own kin; to him you shall listen.”
In the mouth of the prophet would be the words of the Lord.
The prophet, of course, prefigures Jesus Christ – in the lineage of David, the great king of Israel.
And that’s the first point I want to make to you today. We live in a world of “soothsayers and sorcerers;” of false prophets.
For single people, this is incredibly apparent. Magazines, television, and social networks are in the business of telling single people lies.
How often does the world tell you that compromising your chastity will make you happy? Or is normal? Or will lead to marriage?
How often do you hear that making more money, or having more security, is necessary to your happiness?
How often do you hear that your life is your own—that you are in control? That it’s all about you and the pursuit of self-gratification and pleasure!
These are the lies of the soothsayers and the sorcerers. Do not listen to them. Listen instead to the word of the Lord.
Listen to Jesus Christ and the Church, his bride on earth. There alone will we find the words of truth about the human person, the truth that will set us free.
And that brings us to the Gospel. In today’s Gospel, Jesus amazes the people by teaching with authority. Jesus Christ possesses so much authority that he commands evil spirits.
Words that effect change—words that transform—they’re impressive. Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta spoke with authority. So too did Blessed John Paul II. But imagine what it would be like to witness words that could cast demons away. Now that is real authority.
I wonder, though, how often we rely on the authority of Jesus Christ. If we know that his is the voice of authority, the Word of the Lord, do we seek to be radically transformed by him? Do we trust in his voice speaking to our heart of hearts, in the depths of our consciences?
It’s easy and tempting to convince ourselves that we don’t need Jesus Christ. That we can achieve a level of moral perfection, a level of holiness even, by our own hard work and determination. But hard work alone won’t rid us of unclean spirits and effort alone will not make us into saints.
Grace is the key.
Jesus Christ has the power to transform us. To cast out from within us unclean spirits! To clear the way for true advancement in the ways of virtue and holiness!
To open up to us a path to sanctification!
We all should seek to be transformed by Jesus into something greater. We were all made for great things. When we encounter Jesus in the sacraments and in adoration, we learn to love as God loves. To die to ourselves and to lay down our lives for our friends! But we need to be transformed. Those moments we spend before the Lord in Eucharistic adoration are powerful encounters. They strengthen us and equip us for the battle.
Each of us can call to mind our sinfulness, our human weaknesses. Each of us, myself included, is painfully aware of the times we choose not to love. We need to ask and expect Jesus Christ to set us free from the slavery of self.
Which brings us, finally, to Paul. The reading to the Corinthians is appropriate for today. In the reading we heard, Paul is comparing the single life to the married life. The married man and woman, he says, are preoccupied with pleasing their spouses and with the attractions of the world. Saint Paul tells us that: “their hearts are divided.”
But the single person is anxious only about pleasing the Lord. The single person is called to be single hearted which leads to purity of heart.
To many of you, this may not seem quite right.
Many of my single friends tell me that the single life is fraught with anxiety—what is my vocation? What is my place in the Church? What is my place in my family? What is my place in my community?
In short the single life can be characterized by instability and uncertainty -- about the present and the future.
It doesn’t have to be. Saint Paul tells us today that it ought not to be this way!
St. Paul is encouraging single men and women to draw close to Jesus Christ; to find in him a focus on the Christian life—to be radically oriented towards pleasing the Lord. St. Paul exhorts all single people to adhere and cling to the Lord without distraction.
That is the call of the readings today.
Draw close to Jesus Christ.
Rely on him to hear the Word of God.
Be transformed in grace.
Ultimately, every vocation is a call to radical love, a vocation to make a gift of oneself in a particular way.
This is the formula for the peace that surpasses all understanding. The formula that leads to tranquility of soul! And this is what we all want, is it not?
Hear the Word of God and be transformed in grace.
The rest will take care of itself.
The anxiety, the loneliness, the temptation, the ambiguity of the single life—all of these are lost in the love of God.
When we allow ourselves to be transformed by the Lord, when we can hear his voice – then the idea of a vocation, often a scary question for single people, instead becomes an invitation. We discern our vocation, said Blessed John Paul II, when we lose ourselves in Christ, the one who knows us better than we know ourselves. The only one who can reveal us to ourselves!
But we can only hear the Lord if we are listening; if we have become truly his disciples; if we have asked him to free us from sinfulness.
John Paul elaborated on this point. “Each person has a place in God’s plan” he said, “Each of us should carefully listen to God’s voice in prayer in order to discover the special calling we have received in Christ.”
I pray you will continue to listen carefully for the Word of God. I pray that you will be transformed by the grace of Jesus Christ. I pray you will be set free to love as God loves, and be “holy in body and spirit.”
May almighty God bless you, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||